Willow Glen meeting on affordable housing

Sacred Heart Community Service is launching a campaign to support a new fee on developers that would be used to build affordable housing locally.

Citing the loss of Redevelopment Agency funds that once supported affordable housing, the Sacred Heart Housing Action Committee is hosting a meeting on Sept. 16 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Sacred Heart, 1381 S. First St., to kick off the campaign.

The average monthly rent in San Jose is now $2,128 a month, according to Real Facts. Often homeless working couples can not find an affordable place to rent and end up staying in motels or in their cars.

"The high cost of housing affects almost everyone in Silicon Valley," said Poncho Guevara, executive director of Sacred Heart.

"And while the crisis is worse for people with average and low incomes, we also have an opportunity right now to show we value working families and invest our resources into building more affordable housing."